The upcycling of a sap bucket

I was out exploring a trendy older business community with my 'aspiring photographer' hubby a while ago.  While he was happily snapping urban landscapes, I wandered into a great shop that up-cycles and re-purposes old broken down furniture and what-nots.  Since I do that also, but on a smaller scale, it's fun to see what other recyclers are doing.  Most everything in the store was well above my price range, especially being, shall we say, a value conscious DIY Diva;  but I did find this great old sap bucket from Quebec for under seven dollars.  The Hubby wandered in just in time to hear the sales person tell me it was from Quebec, and I saw his eyes light up!  Montreal, Quebec is where he grew up and he's pretty sentimental about that.

I can just picture it full of soft pink peony buds.  Of course, I couldn't just leave the bucket as it was, that would not be in my nature.  So I started by adding some burlap and lace.

That wasn't quite enough, so I added more lace, some gold french ribbon and a few jewellery findings.

Hmmm....not sure I like this! How about with some flowers?

I don't have enough pink roses kicking around so I tried it with blue hydrangeas.  That is SOOOOO not working for me!!!!  So....back I go to the old drawing board.  I pulled of the gold french ribbon and findings and added a cream fabric rose.

Gaaahhh......it just makes me crazy when what's in my head doesn't play out in reality!!  You know what I mean, I know you do!!  This still isn't doing it for me.....so off comes the burlap and all.  In my frustration I tried out a vintage graphic from the Graphics Fairy and that just wasn't it either.

So.....the once again naked bucket was put aside for about 3 months until I finally took it up again tonight!!

A little burlap, two vintage crocheted doilies, a pinch of floral ribbon, a dash of bling and one pink cameo later and voila!!!

Now THIS I can live with!!  Well.....except it's actually not for me so I won't be living with it. Now that I'm finally happy with the end result,  this 'pretty' will be heading to my antique market booth opening in May!

So pretty with a bunch of lavender in it! 

This was going to head to my booth, but my darling Mama who wanted to be my very first customer fell in love with this bucket. 
SOLD - I love you Mama!!

Caio!!!

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Third times the Charm - End table Makeover

I've had this end table kicking around my house for about six years now.  Unfortunately I don't have an original picture of it; but do you remember back in the late 90's when this sort of stuff was in style?

 

Yes, it was a pretty style, but it has had it's day!!   My end table was finished with something that looked like a crinkled brown leather and then had a rose painted in the centre of each door in the same style as the boxes above.  I bought it because it was a good price, on clearance as I recall, but never really liked it's finish, only it's lines

So it became the victim of this first badly failed makeover.  I lived with this for at least four years, until last week when I decided I could NOT stand it for another moment!!  Ugghhhh!!!

I had to scuff up the clear coat a little (I clear coat everything to protect it).   I first painted the bottom apron and legs white and then did my usual layering of blues and blue greens on the body.  I never really have a recipe, I just keep on layering until I'm happy.  You can't tell in the photo but because of that crinkled leather look, the paint actually layered in an interesting way.  After I gave it a light distressing, I transferred a vintage graphic from L'Hotel Victoire onto the centre of the two doors.  Since there is a raised edge that borders the doors, I new it wouldn't come out really well, but I love that it looks old and distressed.   

And here it is....third time's the charm! Very pretty, I took it to my booth at the local antique market where it SOLD.

If you'd like to get the graphic, follow me on pinterest and check out my 'crafting - free downloads' board where you'll find this one and many more.

You can find the story of the chair shown above, along with it's graphic image here.

Thanks for stopping by.  Caio!

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Barrel of Fun - Barrel Chair Makeover

I am a sucker for anything with caning on it.  My only condition is it must be in perfect shape, no punctures allowed! I don't have the patience to redo caning and it's quite expensive to have re-done.

When I found this dated chair with it's perfect cane, I new that it would be a beautiful makeover.  Actually, there were a pair,  but sadly only one had the cane intact.  My upholstery skills are limited, but I find that with most things, if I take it one step at a time and be sure I remember how it came apart, I can usually get the job done.  I didn't even have any left over pieces.  Yaaaaay!!!

The before pictures......

 taking it apart

Don't you just hate trying to remove those darn upholstery staples? There were three layers of staples on this baby.  Oh my poor beat up hands!!











Finally, down to the bare bones of it!!

and here it is painted in Behr's Polar Bear White

I felt that the look of the separate cushion was dated and I wanted a cleaner look.  So I merged it with the base by wrapping them together with two layers of quilt batting. 

I used a drop cloth for the upholstery, but I washed it several times to soften it.  Now,  here is where I ran into trouble.  I went to Staples and printed a mirror image of the vintage french graphic I was using.  It came from the Graphics Fairy and though I've attached the jpg for you below;  do check out the graphics fairy website as its a fantastic resource for copy write free graphics.   I'd planned to use Citri-solv to transfer the image,  but it wouldn't budge from the paper at all.  I've found copies from cheaper laser printers work better with Citri-solv.  Incidentally, if you're new to transferring, there are several transfer tutorials on the graphics fairy blog as well. So failing the Citri-solv method, I got the brilliant idea to try transferring the image using an iron.  This worked, but instead of transferring in black, it came out a rather ghoulish dark green.  Unacceptable!!!  So finally I went over the whole image using a sharpie black paint marker and then washed it a couple times to age the transfer for that vintage look.

Here it is in place waiting to be attached and finally attached and reassembled. 

You can read about the pretty end table shown below in this post here.


The chair will be heading to my booth at my local antique market. 

 here is the graphic for you 

Caio my friends.

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